Cathedral mourns top tenor
RIPA bad year for Winchester Cathedral just got a whole lot sadder.
William Kendall, legendary tenor lay clerk at Winchester and one of the finest church tenors in the world, passed away on Boxing Day.
Andy Lumsden, former director of music at Winchester Cathedral, writes: ‘Such sad news today about Willie Kendall’s passing. An amazing voice, a maverick sense of humour and a very caring man. I feel honoured to have known him for most of my life, and to have worked with him during my time at Winchester Cathedral. Rest in peace ‘dear heart’’.
David Hill adds: ‘So very saddened to hear of the death of William Kendall. An outstanding tenor, one of our greatest who wasn’t always recognised as such, who sang @WinCathedral and soloist with SO many conductors and ensembles. Taught by Pears, he was the quintessential English tenor.
An absolute legend. Hope his 46 years of service at Winchester are suitably honoured in the cathedral, there are few who have been in a single ensemble longer than the 1975-2021 period that WK worked there.
Fond memories of performing and recording both Beethoven masses for Gardiner thirty-five years ago.
I am grateful to my friends and former colleagues, Andrew Lumsden and David Hill, for what they have written about Willie Kendall. While he could be described as a ‘church tenor’, that doesn’t do him justice. Willie was a fine Gerontius and an outstanding Evangelist in both Bach Passions. As David writes, WK sang for many conductors (his Missa Solemnis for Gardiner is superb). Willie and I first worked together on Gardiner’s first performances of Israel in Egypt, in which he sang the aria ‘The enemy said’: his cadenza took him up to a ringing top C. Later, when I was appointed Precentor at Winchester Cathedral, he was wont to introduce me to people by saying ‘we cut our first solo LP together’. I suspect he was intrigued by having a former colleague as head of department. My abiding memory of Willie from those Winchester days is of the way that, during a regular weeknight Evensong, his genuine artistry, always instinctive and often understated, was revealed in a solo phrase that took an already fine offering of worship to a higher level. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.